Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Democrats made a big mistake when they thought that their election to power in both houses and the executive branch of the federal government was a mandate by the American people to be allowed to control our lives. Their win in 2008 was not a vote for Democrats, but a vote against Bush and the Republicans.

The actions of the Democrats since taking power in 2008 were not that of a party given a chance because the GOP blew theirs, but that of a child who is finds himself in charge. In General the Dems no longer rule using the principles of their name sake. They are very non-democratic.

Rather than rule by consensus, they generally prefer to rule by dictate. Their arrogance and disrespect for the voting public is palpable. When they don’t get their way their response to everything is always explained in terms of race, hate, and stupidity instead of ideas or principles. They would rather use a bureaucracy than create a law to get what they want done, or better yet create a new position that is unaccountable to the people, or in the case of Obama, and new Czar that need not be confirmed by the Senate.

The rise of the TEA Party and their historic lose of power in the 2010 election should be seen not as success of the GOP, but as a call to accountability by the people. The people want and demand equality, liberty, and the rule of law. They do not want some elitist snobs from either party telling them what to do and are trying to put the federal government back to the limited role it once had. Look at the number of new laws, law suits, and proclamations that the states are making based on the 10th Amendment. California pretty much thumbs it nose at the Federal Government concerning marijuana. Montana has made the agents enforcing some federal laws on intrastate commerce punishable by fines and imprisonments.

Obamacare with Its provisions that don’t allow elected officials to countermand the mandates of unelected bureaucrats is one of the straws that have broken the camel’s back. What neither of the old parties does is democracy. They lie to get into power, then use on courts and administrative mechanisms, institutions, treaties, etc. to mandate to the people what they should do insulating themselves from the actions the people don’t want through massive bureaucratic control.

What neither party seems willing to do is build a consensus for their policies and create laws to implement those policies. The Democrats are particularly evil about is not accepting that what they think is best even if the people don’t want it. They try to find some way around creating a consensus to get what they want, even if they can’t get the votes. If this country is to become united again both parties must go back to doing the painstaking work of building up a consensus and implementing laws. Politicians need to rely less on bureaucratic insulation from their actions like the EPA claiming authority to push through policies to deal with global warming. Both parties must stop legislation that is force-fed against obvious public disapproval. Creating laws that do not apply to themselves or their favored corporate backers has led the majority of the public not trusting either party.

The November 2010 election was a loss for the elitists in Washington and corporate America; elitists that the people resent. The people of this country don’t trust either party, and as long as they continue to mandate instead of legislate, exempt themselves and their cronies from what they impose on the populace, spend without regard to who pays for it, and ignore the plain language of the constitution, we can expect the country to remain very divided, very angry.

We used to have a system of checks and balances that kept our republic, free of too much government. The elitists have forgotten why the people instituted the government; they have forgotten that the people not the elitists in Washington are sovereign. Through the lack of vigilance of the people, our democratic institutions have become plutocratic. We need our legislature to legislate, not delegate their authority to bureaucrats. We need our administration to administer not legislate. We need our courts to judge not administer or legislate. Democrats need to become democratic in how they do things, and accept when the majority tells them no. The Republicans need to represent the people not the crony corporations who feed them. Because I do not believe either the socialist elites of the Democrats nor protectionist elites of the Republicans will condescend to actually do the will of the people, this may be a time for the people who want liberty, equality, rule of law, and opportunity to abandon the old elitist parties and look for a party of principle.

"Criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society."– Barney Frank (2009)"The true danger is when Liberty is nibbled away, for expedients."– Edmund Burke (1899)"The core divide in American politics now is not between liberals and conservatives, or between capitalists and socialists. It is between libertarians and communitarians."- E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post, May 19, 2003

"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen...."-President Dwight Eisenhower

“Where the government fears the people, there is Liberty. Where the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”- Benjamin Franklin "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight." Obviously Teddy didn’t have much of a “victim” mentality.- Teddy Roosevelt (1902)